River East Ringette shines at Christmas tourney

The River East Ringette Association held its third annual Christmas ringette tournament over the Christmas break at East St. Paul Arena.

Approximately 20 teams from across the city and surrounding areas competed in four age groups, which included our brand new Ringette 4U program, U10, U12A, U12B and U14A/U16B. Along with the on-ice action there was a bouncer, a craft area, a silent auction, 50/50 draws and a loonie stick to be won.

In the Ringette 4U division, many of the teams were playing their first games of the season.

The way the new program is set up, the first part of the season focuses on developing ringette skills through practices, with games starting after Christmas. This structure meant that some of the teams at the River East tournament had not had a chance to play in a game until they got to the tournament.

It was so much fun to see the little ones in action chasing the ring and scoring goals.

They had much on-ice help from both their coaches and many older River East players who volunteered their time, often bright and early in the morning, to help these new players.

The novice , or U10, division was a loop of three teams which included East St. Paul Dynamite, Sturgeon Heights, and Southside Vikings. The competition was very tight with East St. Paul edging out Sturgeon Heights by one goal in the gold-medal game.

The petite, or U12 A, division saw action between the North Kildonan Cobras, East End, St. Andrews Extreme,and the Garden City Rangers. North Kildonan and East End battled it out in a very close gold medal game with North Kildonan taking the silver medal.

The petite, or U12 B, division included East St. Paul, Lorette Royals, and a combined team from Selkirk and Valley Gardens called the Future Stars. The gold-medal game in this division was between East St. Paul and the Future Stars and East St. Paul took the gold.

The oldest group was a combined age group of U16B and U14A. This group included the East St. Paul Aces, a U16B team; River East Kaos , a U14A team; Richmond Kings, a U14A team; and the Eastman Manitoba Winter Games team. The gold medal game was a match between Richmond and River East with River East taking the gold with a score of 9-3.

The River East Ringette Association would like to thank everyone who came out and participated in our third annual Christmas tournament as well as congratulate all of our medal winners. RERA would also like to thank all the volunteers for their tireless efforts and many hours spent at the rink. Without the support of our River East ringette families this tournament would not be the success it is.

Another big thank-you goes out to those players who helped out at the tournament; it is always great to see how dedicated ringette players are to their sport!

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